June 24, 2011

Creative Photography and High Contrast Light

Last week, I was up in the redwoods in Northern California with my friend, Chuck Summers. We had hoped to get some of the famous fog and clouds the area is known for, but we had none until the day we were leaving! Bright sunshine in the redwoods gives a problem we often face in nature photography - high contrast beyond the range of the camera. And the problem is worse in the redwoods because they can make such dense shade. The difference between sun and shade can be huge.

A challenge we all confront as photographers is being able to recognize the difference between what we see with our eyes and what the camera can see. Our eyes can see a much greater range of tones than the camera can handle. We can easily see into the shadows and bright spots in a redwood forest when the camera cannot. This can get us into trouble if we compose and shoot for what we see rather than what the camera is capable of capturing. Sometimes we have to just say no to a photograph and move on to something we and the camera can say yes to.

But making a trip to the redwoods is not a time you want to say no too often. Redwoods are these phenomenally tall trees. Walking through them is truly awe-inspiring. Yet I know some photographers would simply quit and not photograph under these conditions. That is taking "no" too far. Sure, fog and clouds look great there, but redwoods also grow in the sun and shade! As lovers of nature, do we really want to restrict our images of nature to only certain conditions? That would be a restrictive way to show off any ecosystem.

So what can you do? There are two good possibilities. One is to look for the contrasty light and use it for effect, such as the top sunburst photo and this image:

Sunlit fern and redwoods - (c) Rob Sheppard

The other solution is to use HDR (combining multiple exposures of the same scene via High Dynamic Range) in order to capture a range of tones closer to what we see and beyond the limitations of the camera. Check out this HDR image: